The election’s over…

Why I Voted Against the Government

For the first time since becoming a Canadian citizen (in 2014), I voted for a party other than the NDP. While shifting from centre-left to centre-right is more nudge than hard turn, the centre-right party that I joined, after leaving the NDP, folded just over a week later.

With the ink on my new BC United membership card barely dry, those of us in the North Coast and Haida Gwaii electoral district, myself included, were now left with a stark choice: The government party or the hard-right party.

In the end, I voted against the government. But it wasn’t an easy decision to make – especially not after a lifetime of service to the labour movement and commitment to helping build and sustain an effective public sector that works for everyone.

Now, with the NDP facing a razor thin victory, the question is this: Do we get to see a humbled NDP – one that that gets back to delivering on the basics that residents and businesses need? Or does the NDP consider its razor thin (likely) victory a vindication, a victory against accountability — more of the same?

MLA Jennifer Rice called me a couple of weeks into the campaign to ask me why I wasn’t backing the NDP. My answer: Health care. We don’t have enough doctors. We cannot depend on the emergency room being open. The system is broken and it needs fixing, and after seven years in government, the blame goes to the elected government of the day.

To Be Universal, Universal Health Care Has to Work

I strongly support universal health care, and I understand the benefit of a government monopoly in the provision of an essential and necessary service such as health care. But when a monopoly is granted to any system – public or private – this comes with a certain caveat: The monopoly must deliver, especially when lives and health are at stake.

Otherwise, we are left with no alternative. That’s an abuse of power. It’s also a dereliction of duty, an exercise in inexcusable political and bureaucratic indifference to the needs of citizens and residents — people who have only one health care option to choose from.

If an ER closure costs you thirty minutes in delay to getting to urgent care, and that ends up costing you your life, it won’t matter who you blame for this, because at that point the only matter for you is the fact that your life was cut short.

The operators of the life-needed and government-granted monopoly of health care, such as those who operate health care facilities in the communities of the North Coast and Haida Gwaii electoral district, have a sacred duty to deliver. Our lives – quite literally – depend on this.

A couple of days ago I got another call from the NDP – asking me to donate money to the party. I told the caller that I wasn’t voting NDP, I was no longer a member of the party, and I was voting Conservative in this election. In previous NDP campaign calls, saying all of this politely ended the call. But this NDP canvasser pressed on.

Why, he asked, did I quit the party?

My answer: The lack of doctors in my town. The canvasser pushed back and asked, how had I been “misinformed” of this? My response: This is our region’s reality. Many of our doctors moved out at the start summer and we cannot count on the emergency room given so many closures over the past few months.

I said to him that I deserve better. I don’t have a family doctor. I cannot depend on the emergency room being open when I need it most. The NDP needed to do better to earn my trust and vote. This politely ended the call.

Why Our Region Voted for Hope

I understand why many people, including a clear majority of voters in the North Coast and Haida Gwaii electoral district, voted NDP and supported MLA-elect Tamara Davidson in this election.

Why this electoral district voted for her, despite the health care shortages throughout the region, the ongoing lack of clean water in the region’s biggest city, and the failure on early intervention supports for our most vulnerable children and families, makes sense given the alternative and our community’s desire for hope.

Despite her party’s many failings in government, MLA-elect Tamara Davidson presented a clear alternative as a leader, especially in contrast to the Conservative candidate for our district. But more than this, the NDP represents hope to a lot people in our region. We collectively pinned our hopes to MLA-elect Tamara Davidson’s promise of leadership, compassion, and professionalism as our future MLA.

The election is over. It looks like the NDP may have another chance at governing – at least for some time. But the hard challenges we face in health care are not over. These hard challenges stem from a mix of demographic shifts, retiring professionals, skill shortages (lack of training and education), changing economics, bureaucratic bungling, and challenges specific to Northern Health and the region. Hard right rhetoric won’t fix any of this.

Like those who voted NDP, I am hopeful. I am hopeful that this election will serve as a wake up call to those in charge of delivering on government services that we rely on to live – it’s time for politicians and bureaucrats alike to wake up to the urgent crisis that communities throughout the province face. Save public health care or we will lose it. There is no time for distraction and division. Let’s solve the crisis – together and for everyone.

Just as with the provision of clean water, police and fire services, safe roads, and so much more of what governments are meant to provide, the jobs that governments do are essential to our lives and livelihoods. We must do everything we can to make it work – for us.

[Note: This post is Part 1 of a series. Read more here.]